On October 12, 2021, the 6th Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) was held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Azerbaijan was represented at the meeting by a delegation led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev noted that Azerbaijan was one of the first countries to support the initiative to convene the CICA, highlighting the steps taken by Azerbaijan as a coordinator of the confidence-building event on the development of transport corridors.

In his speech, Deputy Minister Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev gave information about the restoration and reconstruction works carried out in the liberated territories after the end of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and the liberation of these areas from the 30-year long occupation of Armenia, and noted that these areas have been declared green energy zones and are being reconstructed on the basis of “smart city” and “smart village” concepts.

The importance of involving private sector representatives from many CICA member states in these processes was stressed as a new example of cooperation between the member states of the organization.

Deputy Minister noted that the Zangazur corridor has great potential in the post-conflict normalization process, strengthening of regional peace and confidence, as well as the development of trade and transport links in the north-south and east-west directions.

In his speech, Deputy Minister informed the event participants about the consequences of mass contamination of Azerbaijan’s territories with mines and other explosives by Armenia, as well as its refusal to hand over accurate maps of all minefields to Azerbaijan in violation of international humanitarian law. Recalling Azerbaijan’s proposals on normalization of relations with Armenia on the basis of mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, and inviolability of international borders, signing a peace treaty between the two countries as well as delimitation and demarcation of borders, it was stressed that Armenia needs to demonstrate political will and a constructive approach to implement these proposals.

The chairmanship Statement was issued at the end of the meeting. The Statement noted that among the challenges of regional and global importance in the CICA region, mines and other explosives hindered post-conflict recovery, reconstruction, and peace-building efforts, and the importance of effective mine action to ensure peace and stability after the conflict was stressed. In this regard, the Foreign Ministers of the CICA member states call on the UN, other international organizations, and individual states to assist the relevant countries in clearing the areas contaminated with mines and other explosives.

In addition, the Statement emphasizes the importance of further development of transport corridors and logistics centers in the CICA space, including the promotion of multi-modal corridors and digitalization in the transport sector, noting the importance of transport corridors for peace and economic development.